Approved!

We made it!! My visa was approved at the boarder, after MUCH discussion and debate over why exactly we had MA plates on our car when we'd never lived or worked in MA before ( "So, you were that sure your visa would be approved hey?"). Sigh. It was stressful, but not at all as traumatic as I had anticipated. I learned a few things:
1) Boarder guards are not allowed to be pleasant under ANY circumstances..even after they approve your visa.
2) They refuse to actually tell you they are approving it...they just send you to pay the cashier - that's how you know your approved.
3) They don't care if you have a cat, or what is in your car at all (not one question or glance at the inside of the car).
4) They can't quite understand that the female is the one getting the visa.
5) They care nothing about your spouse, except to tell him that you will be deported if he tries to work in the US.
6) They like to make fun of your salary..."You know you're not making very much..."
7) They make mistakes too, but will never admit it. At one point the guard called Daryl over and asked him the exact question he'd asked me 5 times already, I'm sure in an attempt to trip us up and get a different answer. Except he asked it wrong. He asked "So, why do you have a MA drivers liscence?!?" Daryl looked at him, we looked at each other, and Daryl said "Do you mean liscence plates?? Because I don't have a MA drivers liscence." The guard looked down and moved on to the next question. Said nothing. I thoroughly enjoyed it though :-).

So we are in our apartment, which we love. We are within walking distance of everythng, some of which are:
-3 grocery stores including Trader Joes, which a friend told me about. This amazing organic/natural food store with better prices than the regular grocery store...I'm in love.
- Cafe/Bakery (essential, we've already tried it out).
-Liqour store
-Southwestern, Japanese, Chinease, North American, Fast food, Italian, etc restaurants. Amazing.
- A fedex kinkos (where I am now using internet)
- Used CD store
-Pet food store
-Hair salon, nail salon, tanning place.
- Bank,
- Dentist

And when I say walking distance, I mean under 5 minutes. So, we're all set. Must run now though, we're off to find my new work, and make the first essential visit to Ikea. And wash the dead bugs off of our poor poor car.

Night driver

OK, so we've realized throughout this trip that Daryl is the day time driver, and I am the night driver. I can't stay awake during the day driving (??), and he is sleepy at night. So after we disembarked the ferry last night at 12am (well this morning tecnically), I took over the driving. My body failed me though...my eyes were drooping and I had to pull over, then start again, then pull over. Daryl kept trying to take over driving, but I was not willing to give in. I am the night driver THE night driver. I pounded back another Sobe Arush drink (mmm), but it was not helping. I was praying for the first town to appear, with a Tim Hortons or something. Finally, over the horizon, I could see the glow of the white sign with red writing, and the yellow sign below. I pulled in just before Owen Sound, and decided desperate times called for desperate measures. I loaded up on coffee, tim bits (it has been like years since I've had those!), and changed the tunes. I had to bring out the big guns - MJ. That's right, Michale Jackson. Some of you know how much MJ inspires me, and wakes me up. So, we piled back in the car, MJ cranked ("Billy Jean..." "I'm Bad, I'm Bad..."), timbits and coffee in hand and I went into the zone. I was amazing. At one point, shortly after we got going again, I reached to get something and Daryl looked at me and said "what was that?" - he had thought my reaching was a sweet dance move reminicent of Elaine from Sienfeld. We laughed. I then, of course felt compelled to demonstrate the Elaine dance. Picture it: Bombing down the highway in no-where Ontario at 1am, coffee in hand, doing the Elaine dance in my seat, to MJ's "Bad." Stellar. It was beautiful. We rolled into Hamilton at 5am and crashed. We meant to get up earlier to decide if we wanted to go further today to the boarder. Ya..we slept till 2:30pm. So, no travel today. We'll head for the boarder at about 4am tomorrow, then on to our new home! We may be without internet for a while though.

Here we are...

...sitting in an internet cafe in South Baymouth, ON hungrily devouring blog updates and emails. I have been terribly remiss in chronicling our adventure..mostly because it's been almost exclusively driving and sleeping since we left Edmonton! We have SO many great pictures which I'll upload at a later point. So for now...I'm just going to list it off...

Places we've been:
1)Langley (Late arrival, early departure - I'm so sorry to everyone we didn't get to see while there).
2) Kamloops - Caught up with my family, many good long talks on the patio with wine and a great dinner out. Tearful goodbyes.
3) Edmonton - Had a wonderful but much too short visit with dear friends Bean and P. It always amazes me how easily Bean and I reconnect. We go months and sometimes more than a year without seeing eachother or talking. When we meet up again though, we always have an excellent time. Also visited my cousin and aunt, which was great.
4) Saskatoon - not much to say..we got in late, we left early. Nice hotel.
5) Dryden (ON)- Gross motel. Waxy towels, red shag carpet, yellowed duvet covers and just...ick.
6) Wawa (ON) - My favorite town EVER - mostly because of the name. Just say it. Wawa.
7) Eventually tonight we'll end up in Hamilton..well early tomorrow around 4am. Sigh.

Animals I've almost killed driving fast on Ontario highways at night:

1) A bear. Yes, a bear. Ran right in front of my car.
2) A fox (as above). ]
3) 900 Dear. There are a lot of dear. They line the highway faking you out. It's a little game they have called "make the tin animals flinch." I think they get bonus points for making you vear into oncoming traffic.
4) NOT a moose. I'm both thankful and disappointed. I really wanted to see a moose. I was totally petrified of hitting a moose.

Things I've had to drink:

1) Starbucks..mmm...
2) Zack's coffee...mmm...
3) Tim Hortons...eh...
4) Espresso at Beans (made by her!) - to die for
5) "Complimentary" coffee at cheap motels - disgusting. Seriously. This was of the "toss it out the window as fast as you can" variety.
6) Sobe Energy drinks. A -something. They are amazing! And SO tasty!! Way tastier than any I've had before. They came up to bat after I winged the nasty coffee out.
7) Flavoured water...love it.

Bugs.
I need to take a moment to recognize the moths of Saskatchewan and the varied bugs of Manitoba. Seriously. The moths/butterflies pummeled our windshield and blanketed our radiator for the duration of our drive through Saskatchewan. During they daytime!?! Daryl took pictures. I refuse to post them on my blog..but if you must, you can see them at his blog eventually.

Bastet.
She is amazing. Turns out she a)Will just sleep all day in her carrier if in the car, b)Has astounding constitution. c) doesn't like the carrier at night when she usually is tearing apart our house d) Has no problem wth a harness but e) Is kind of freaked out by being outside and f) Is so super cute when we leave her free in the car while we go in to eat at a restaurant. We are nerds - we sit in a window seat by the car so we can watch her. So she is handling the trip SO well. We are amazed.

The "Lakes"
We've been fooled. There is a whole other ocean in the middle of Ontario. It looks like ocean, there are rocks, sailboats, seagulls (dont' they need a SEA?), sandy beaches, cliffs, there are even FERRIES. It's beautiful!

Onwards...Well, I can't believe we are this far already, and that I start work at NECC on Monday. It's hard to believe and hard to adjust to. We've had a good time on the trip so far. The only regret we have is not having had more time for the Ontario portion of the trip. The drive over Lake superior is SO beautiful. So, onwards to Hamilton tonight to stay with my cousin, and then make a run for the boarder. Wow. Those of you inclined please pray for our crossing. We're a bit nervous about it..I have to do my visa interview, and all that. I'm sure it will be fine, but it's just a bit nerve wracking.

Must run before the time is up, but will update and post pictures later. I wish I had time to formulate this blog better!

New beginnings.

Well, we actually made it out of our apartment and onto the last ferry last night. I am astounded. And sad. And excited.

We only got through the last few days by the grace of God, and with such amazing friends and family. I have wonderful pictures to post, will post later today though. Monday night, several friends from Church came over and helped us clean our apartment (even though it wasn't packed yet!). You know someone loves you when they scrub your toilet and pull rotten cucumbers out of your fridge!! I scrubbed the stove at 2am, then we collapsed on our air bed and didn't sleep until about ummm I think 3am.

We were going to a 6am liturgy on Monday morning (perfect way to end our time in Victoria) and our priest was picking us up at 4:45am. We had thought we'd set the alarm for 3:30. So, I woke up to the sound of our priests van...and Daryl still in the shower, and me NOT WOKEN up!! Turns out we set the alarm for 4:30. Anyhoo...it all worked out - we got to Church, had a beautiful service, were anointed and prayed for for our travels, cried a lot, had breakfast, and went home.

There was a huge debacle with the liscence plates. So, the liscence plates for our car arrived at 4PM. So, we had to get the car, pack it, wrap everything for shipping, ship it, finish cleaning the apartment, figure out how to attach the roof top carrier (which also just arrived yesterday). It was impossible. But not with our friends and family. Daryl's aunt and cousin, and my dear friend showed up to help us out. They wrapped and cleaned and organized like a storm. Julie packed our whole car, and got more into it then I we could ever have done ourself I think. I managed to put the car top carrier on UPSIDE DOWN and FILLED it, and closed it. Daryl and his cousin went to put it on and realized it was upside down and had to flip it, totally full! Ya, I won't be asked to do that again. I, unlike Magnificent M. am NOT a stellar packer.

So, we pulled into the ferry terminal at 8:45, and drove on the 9:00 ferry. We had a long LONG day after only an hour or so of sleep. So we crashed here, and are just about to get ourselves ready to head to Kamloops.

Bastet did amazingly well with the pandemonium. She was great in the car, and is doing wonderful being at Daryl's parents house. This is a huge relief!!

So, we are tired, emotionally drained, and excited all at once. On to our next stop today. I'll post pictures of the moving fiasco (I have a nice before-after sequnce of packing the apartment ;-) later on.

Once again, goodbye Victoria, and soon to be goodbye lower mainland.

Missing Victoria already...

Why is it that we never appreciate things until we are loosing them? D. And I just went for a walk to get a coffee...I was tearing up the whole way thinking of leaving our quaint (sp?) little "avenue," the apartment that was really our first home together and the west coast air. I haven't appreciated all this until recently though. Does anyone else have trouble living in the present? I find I'm usually longing for the past, or pining for the future. Rarely am I ever really absorbing the present; being truly thankful for what I have, where I live, and the wonderful people I'm surrounded with. Maybe it's the downside to being very goal oriented. I think that one of the benefits of blogging is that it gives you a venue that is almost exclusively devoted to describing, enjoying, sharing your present life. It allows you to bask in your day-to-day joys and struggles, and to reflect on them. This type of reflection is what allows me to live "in" my life, rather than just observe it, or completely miss out on it. One thing each day that is beautiful and joy-creating - that's what I want to try to blog about.

Today. We had one of my favorite "in law"s over. Daryl's aunt, who he lived with when he first moved over here came for dinner. I love her. She is a wonderful, warm, dynamic, FUN person. I feel completely at ease with her, like I can talk to her, be myself with her, and really enjoy her company. She came for dinner tonight, and I just really enjoyed our time together. I have such fond memories of coming to visit Daryl while he was staying with her - she always took such good care of me. I remember one valentines we went for a nice dinner, and on a carriage ride. I had dressed up in clothing not nearly warm enough, and it was FEBRUARY, and really really cold! When we got "home" (back to her place), she brought out a fleece sweater, these amazing slipper-socks, a blanket etc, and wrapped me all up and made tea for us. It was lovely. She also knows Victoria like no one else - knows when and where all the fun events are happening. I have told her many times that she MUST open a B & B. It would be perfect. I would SO pay money to stay with her ;-).

That's it for today. I'm in denial about the 5 days till we move. I can't handle it. I'll let you know when I can :-). Today I made a big pot of soup. I used a lot of our food that needs using up, and it was pretty good :-). Tonight my contribution to the moving task will be making some oatmeal raisin cookies. This is progress because 1) I found a recipe that uses banana, oatmeal, honey, sunflower seeds, raisins etc..all of which I have large quantities of that I need to get rid of, and 2) It keeps me from crying or yelling, which allows D. to keep his sanity. It also provides us with nourishment. Yes, I know it's 10pm. So I like to bake at night.

A party, two friends, and a lazy morning.

We are leaving Victoria in 6 days. SIX days. If you could see how full our apartment still is and how completely un-ready we are to leave it you would understand my mounting panic.

We had our "Take away our stuff" get together on Saturday. We had a wonderful time visiting with many people, and were overwhelmed by the generosity of our Church family. We will miss our community here so much. I am sad that we haven't gotten to know more people more deeply while here. There are so many astounding people we've had the joy of knowing, and I only wish we could know them more.

So, the only downside was that only a limited amount of stuff was "taken away." So, we have a lot to clear out still. The good thing though, is that it is sorted, and at least we know WHAT we have to get rid of. That's a step anyways.

It's been a busy last few days. We had Mag here for a few days, and spent time visiting, watching some Buffy from the "glory days" as she called it (Read: Season 2), celebrated her birthday with her (this is becoming a tradition...she better fly out to Boston next August!), and said a tearful goodbye. It was a wonderful visit, and it was so nice to spend some good quality time with her before we go. I'm only sorry we were so wrapped up with preparing for the Saturday get together and moving events.

She left on Sunday, and my dear friend M. arrived Sunday. We had a mad couple of days of work and play together, both of which I enjoyed more than I can describe. I was saying to my mom on the phone after she left that M. is the one person who, no matter what else is going on or how stressed out I am, can make me laugh. It's interesting too how most people in my life know when I need some "M. time." My mom commented on it - "You really needed some good time with M. I knew you'd feel better after you saw her." Daryl has, on numerous occasions shipped me off to the mainland for some time with M. when I was debating whether I should go or not. They both know that somehow, no matter where I'm at, after seeing M. I'm in a better place. That's just the way it is :-). As always we had good food, good wine, and good conversation...all of which both of us love.

After M. left I found two things: 1) She'd left a bottle of Desert Hills Gamay Noir on the counter in the kitchen. We used this to celebrate the recent discoveryt that our applications for interest relief on our student loans has been approved. It is an amazing wine. Sooooo good. Thanks M. :-).

2) I discovered a pile of presents and cards on my desk behind my computer. I read the card - so completely appropriate for our friendship...and her additions to it...and cried. I will miss her so much...and it means so much to me to know she's behind me in this move. She also left a beach picture of rocks to add to my planned wall of west coast beach photos (It's my inexpensive decorating project for when I get to Boston), a Sonya Kitchell album (songs that are SO "us" on it - an excellent new driving tunes album!), and a starbucks card. Could she know me any better?!? So, as I'm driving on the freeway, with Sonya blaring, downing my 10th tripple americano of the day (this would be during hour 15 of a driving day), I will think of M., and of the amazing supportive friend she's been to me.

So, now we ahve 6 days to get things in order. I have the day off today, so, I slept in till 9:30 (so wonderful), snuggled with my DH (also so wonderful), watched grey's anatomy (I just discovered re-runs are on CH at 10am on weekdays!!), and ate salt water taffy. It's now 11:30, and I'm still in my PJ's, and have done nothing constructive today yet. But I think that's ok. I will shower and get going after this, sit down and outline a plan of attack for the next six days, and start in on it. Aiyaiyai!

OK...off I go.

Goodbye to UVic..

I turned in my keys at the Psych department yesterday. It was sad. I went in in the morning meet with the prof I'm TAing for and hand in exams. We talked for about an hour....got on to new research ideas, debating and discussing. He was on his way to a research meeting to discuss what another student was going to do for their honors thesis in the coming year and said I should come along. I thought "I have a thousand things I need to be doing...I have scheduled in other things for this time"...then I thought "YES!" So off I went and spent another 2 hours discussing research etc...a quick trip to drop exams turned into a 4 hour morning. But I just couldn't leave. I LOVE the process of discussing and planning new research projects. It's so exciting...coming up with ideas, and pondering how they would pan out...thinking of what we could find, getting excited, and listening to two very intelligent profs argue (can they ever argue) over the best way to do things. Excellent. I'm sad to leave :-). I"ve learned so much from them, and from this process, I have so much more to learn! But, I will have new people to learn from :-) . I've gotten a good degree at UVic. I'm very glad I came here to finish it. I think the research experience and coursework in my area that I've been able to get I couldn't have gotten anywhere else. Also, the two profs I've been working with really took me under their wing and have pushed me, guided me, and helped me to learn and grow immensely.

Goodbye UVIc.

Much to say about nothing?

Well, I felt it had been too long since I last posted...but I don't have much to say! I finally finished a stack of marking last night, I feel like I can breath again. Whenever I have marking on the go I feel like I can't do anything else until it is finished. These exams were a little fun to mark, but also a little painful. They are for a class that is exactly "my" area of psychology and I was appalled at how little some students seemed to have learned. The last one I marked was the worst. The student literally stated the polar opposite to the correct answer for each and every question. Arg! There were some very good exams too though..and they were fun to mark.

So now I must get on with the packing and cleaning and moving stuff. We're getting down to the wire now - 13 days exactly till we leave. That is frightening! This weekend will see most of the stuff we're not taking with us leave our apartment. We decided to do the open house/come take away our stuff get together this Saturday, and we've heard rumors that it will be crashed by Church friends and turned into a going away party ;-). So, hopefully most of our stuff will sell/be taken away on Saturday. What doesn't go will be carted off to BB or VV or something. After that, all that will be left will be our bed and a few additional things to store, which my parents will pick up the following weekend.

The "last time" s are starting to happen now. We had a wonderful weekend last weekend with two of my dearest friends and their significant others. We had a BBQ...lots of talking, a jam session, arguing about Meyers Briggs personality profiles, and walked to the beach to see the fireworks. I think this was the last time I'll see them before we go, and it was a wonderful visit. I got to hug J. and R. and congratulate them on their engagement (possibly the single most exciting event of this year for me), and have good catch up time with two of my "chicks." We've been friends for so long, and have watched each other grow from 13 to adults. We've stayed close through all the life changes, graduating highschool, graduating university, kids, weddings, everything! I know that a large part of the person I am today, is tied to them. I said to Daryl after we left, that when I am with them I feel like I can breathe. It's hard to describe, but I think it's something that just comes from growing up together.

This weeknd we also had a short but reviving vist with another couple who are moving accross the continent days after us! They have been such an unending support and comfort throughout the process. B. has been my "packing buddy" and despite being a "J", I don't think I could possibly have gotten through all of this or made any headway at all without her! We were all tired and stressed out when we met up..but we managed, by the end of the evening to have some laughs, and bolster ourselves for the coming weeks.

I'm so excited too, as this week we have TWO dear friends visiting back to back to say goodbye., Today Mag comes, and we'll have some therepeutic evenings watching..hmmm...I'm not sure what we'd watch together? She is my "safe"friend. I say this because whenever I see her when things are stressful and hard (umm...at wedding rehearsals and mid-moving maddness) I end up just crying. I'm not entirely sure why...as I don't "just cry" often. But I think it might be because she's one of those people who never puts demands on me...and she's not involved with any of the stressfull parts of my life.

Then on Sunday, I get to have M. here for two nights. I can't quite believe I have to say goodbye to her yet. Since I've moved here, as with many people, we haven't seen too much of each other.But...we still have our record length phone calls intermittently, and recently have been able to see each other in person fairly frequently. Which is no fair, because now we have to go back to rare visits! She's my dance partner, my nerdy graph buddy (we both love them a little too much), she loves decorating, good food, good wine, good coffee, ikea, God, and her work (which happens to be the same as mine) - could we be a better match? I remember once as we were preparing food for one of her amazing dinner parties, we found ourselves finishing each other's sentances, exclaiming the same comments in stereo, laughing hysterically (as we frequently do), and oohing and awing over the dishes she had chosen for the evening. We were amazed by this - since we literally hadn't seen each other for months. I mean I was expecting us to laugh hysterically...but finish eachother's sentances and speaking the same?? We decided at that juncture that it was a tragedy that we'd never been roomates. I don't think I have more in common with a single other person I know, and because of that she gets me in ways others don't.

Ah..friends, glorious friends. I truely am an extrovert! I really believe that so much of who we are is influenced by those close to us. All of my firends have given me a part of themselves. I hold it for safe keeping :-), and it strengthens me.

Ok ok..enough of all this smeepyness. And I thought I had nothing to say!?!

Bus rider....

(If you've heard that take off on "cab driver" you'll be humming it in your head right now. If not..that's okay).

Today on my bus ride home, the bus was quite empty - only about 5 or 6 people on it when we left university. Included in the bunch was an elderly lady, and several UVic-ites. There was one student type fellow sitting in front of me. When he got on the bus and sat down in front of me I somehow knew I'd have something to blog about tonight. I'm not sure why...just something about the way he carried himself. So...we pull out away from the stop...it's silent, everyone is looking out their windows, dutifully avoiding eye contact with anyone else (myself included). Suddenly, fellow in front of me just yells "holy _ _ _ _ " (the one that REALLY gets your mouth washed out with soap). He continues reading his newspaper without looking up. Everyone looks at him. He looks up...says "Oh, sorry, but you won't beLIEVE this!!" And proceeds to describe to the 5 or so of us how some developer wants to put in condos in the old Bay building downtown I think it was. He tried very hard to engage everyone...eye contact, holding up the paper, waving it around, madly gesturing towards it. It was funny to watch all of us squirming...no one wanted to talk, but it couldn't be avoided, he clearly needed a response involving outrage comparable to his. So gradually...quietly the elderly lady said "has it been approved?" and immediately looked down again. It was so funny!! He also, unfortunately was wearing a sweater and scarf in 30 degree weather, and had his arm up and wrapped around the seat infront of me...positioned just so the air conditioning blew underneath it towards me. Nice. You can imaging sweater+scarf+30degree weather does not = smell of roses. Anyhoo..he was an interesting guy, and I was appreciateive of the bus ride adventure.

I was laughing to myself on the bus and thinking of all the mini-adventures I've had and people I've met, while riding transit.

I remember once discussing theories about a mysterious coffee shop on my old bus route with a couple I'd never met before (the shop has been closed for years, but things move around inside it, the florescent light is always on). We started discussing the coffee shop, but ended up being "those" people on the bus laughing hysterically about I can't remember what the whole bus ride. It was like I'd known them for years. Then it was awkward though - when we'd see each other on the bus after that I'd be thinking things like "I won't say hi unless they say hi to me," and wonder "do we know each other well enough to go for coffee, or is that weird." It was like I was trying to date them. LOL!

Then the man that I see all the time. He looks a bit intimidating...very rough around the edges, older. He always likes to talk to people, and I admit I'd always avoided standing next to him. Then one day I couldn't avoid it, and ended up talking with him. He was so nice...I really enjoyed the conversation. I kind of look forward to bumping into him now. Regardless of how many times things like this happen...I still seem to avoid interaction with people who I don't know. I'm a chicken.

Then the old lady who has crazy teased hair, bright pink blush, hot pink lipstick, excellent 80's clothes too hip for most her age, and an awsume attitude. I DID want to talk with her. I got an opportunity to one day, and she told me that she was 22 (she is at least 65/70 I think), and was going to meet her boyfriend...and told me about graduation and all kinds of things.

And the tiny lady in all red, with cowboy boots and a giant cowboy hat (both also red).

And so many more. That doesn't even cover the adventures...just the neat people! That is the one thing I'll miss about being a bus rider... getting to talk with and meet people I never normally would.

What's your best bus rider story?

A little much-needed reinforcement...

The last week has been challenging. Today was good. Things have been bit by bit starting to feel like they are falling to pieces for our move, the house is in caous, and I had this guest lecture to prepare for the class I'm TAing in. It involved video, in digital form, which, as it turns out my computer cannot play, and cannot be inserted into power point without 4 different types of software and about 100 hours of time - neither of which I had. I managed to figure out an alternate set up though, and the presentation is done! The prof I've worked with for the last year and a half or so (research and TAing etc) gave me a very kind and encouraging introduction when he introduced my presentation...would have made me weepy if I hadn't been infront of a group of 30 people. He's not one to really tell you what he thinks about you, or whether you are doing a good job - very reserved and kind of shy. So, it meant a lot that, even if only in this context he told me what he thought.

The presentation went really well. The other prof from our research team did a presentation as well, and the prof I'm TAing for took all of us out to lunch together. It was really good. They were both so encouraging and provided me with lots of postive feedback which was desperately needed at this junction in life. Then, while discussing our research and what to write up for submission etc....they decided that I should "tweak" my final report, send it to them for revisions and review, and submit it for publication!! The report I WROTE is the one we'll be using!! And I'll get to have the awsume learning experience of getting their feedback and coaching as I prepare it for submission. Now, this in NO WAY means it will be published at all, and definately not any time soon. It could easily be rejected after all the work put into it. It's a lengthly process. And there is a gargantuan amount of "tweaking" to do before it is anywhere near ready to be sent in. Apparently I'm supposed to be doing this "in my spare time" while in Mass. Lol! Good thing I don't start classes till January. Anyhoo...the prospect is exciting, and though it's a lot of work, I can't turn down the opportunity to not only have my name on something, but to actually have written the majority of it!

I actually finally had the time to clean the kitchen, somewhat assemble the living room (broken down ikea furniture and half packed boxes littering it), go grocery shopping and prep veggies, tuna and salad for snacks/lunches this week. We've totally been comfort eating this week - which means increadibly unhealthfully. Forgetting to eat, then eating really unhealthy food, and drinking lots of coffee. We have kept up our running though, so that's good. Our office room is still a disaster, but most of it is the "get rid of" pile (now covering half the room), so there is not much I can do about that till we have our "come take away our stuff" get-together. Sigh.

Deep breaths. I really do need some breathing room right now. It's hard.

Trip planning

It's been an eventful couple of days... nothing huge, just a lot of business with the packing, saying goodbye to our stuff, and planning the trip. Thursday, Daryl's dad came and picked up a truck load of our stuff to store. It was sad to wave goodbye to our beloved mementos, books, and a lovely mirror Daryl gave me for an anniversary present. Yesterday, my dad arrived, all the way from Kamloops, to pick up a truck load of stuff to store at their place. We actually had a good evening, packing, organizing stuff, and getting it all ready to go. I had an encouraging and comforting talk with dad on the patio while Daryl did some of the packing. We are so lucky to have such wonderful and supportive parents on both sides. Another night of little sleep though, as our apartment was just roasting. SO hot!! So this morning, we had breakfast, loaded up the truck and dad took off around 10am. We decided that after all of the packing and sorting and saying goodbye to our things, we needed to contact some reinforcers related to our trip (this would be the way I put it, not Daryl ;-). So, we sat down at the patio table with coffee, maps (tons of free ones my parents scored at BCAA!), paper, highlighter, pencil and calculator and planned out our travel route. Being that we want to go to Kamloops and Edmonton "on the way" out, it seems the fastest, most enjoyable route will be: Victoria, Langley, Kamloops, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Kenora (ONT), Sault St. Marie (ish- we've heard there is great camping just before Sault St. Marie along Lake Superior), Hamilton, then accross the boarder at Buffalo and through to MA. We had heard that the route below, via the US was faster, but when we timed it out on the maps, going through Canada was faster by a few hours, and the trip is much more picturesque that way. Besides, both of us have a fear of travelling though Chicago (which the US route would require). I was stuck there twice for hours on end at the O'Hairball airport, and Daryl was stuck there due to car troubles for a matter of days! So, we'll avoid it.

It was quite amusing planning the trip out. Once I had highlighted in our route (a necessity for me), I was very rigid about it. I could not entertain the idea of taking a route that was off the highlighted roads. Daryl was almost as bad, in that he was seriously disturbed when I accidently got a pencil mark on the map. We are an odd couple.

Anyhoo...onwards we go. Half our stuff is gone, now to get rid of the rest, and pack what we're taking with us.

Take away my stuff party??

So I had this idea...I thought - wouldn't it be great if we could combine (stay with me it IS a good idea) visiting with people before we go, and getting rid of our stuff? Like an invite-only-donate-money-to-our-move-and-take-our-stuff-away thing??

Then i was talking with a friend (who's also moving, though not so far, so can cart extra stuff)...tonight and hadn't even mentioned my idea. I was telling her I had spent the afternoon taking pictures of our furniture to post on craigslist. So she got all excited and asked if she could come over and look at our stuff first and have first dibs on buying our stuff. I said "SURE." So, her, and her new baby and her friend came over. They wandered through our house (while I got some "baby action" and) and between the two of them, they are taking 8 or 9 pieces of furniture, and paying for it!! And we had a wonderful visit! They just put post-it's on the stuff they decided to take, with the price we told them. They're picking it up!

So - NO garage sale, NO strangers in your space, NO carting things to a new home, NO listing adds, NO anything!! Just some time visiting with friends, and the potentially (not in this situation) awkward situation of telling a friend how much money they should give you for something. That could be avoided though, by stickering things ahead of time and having a few people over. Some nice coffee and baking and you have an inexpensive social event where you make a little money!

love it? I do!

We have a car!!

Here it is!! We have our new car!! It's a 1998 Nissan 200Sx. Low miles, perfect on the inspection, and it will be a perfect little car for us. A bit small for our galavanting across the continent, but the pefect commuting car. The biggest plus is that it is a US car - so there are no importing issues (yes we've checked into this in great detail :-). We can't actually DRIVE it yet, as we don't have the insurance. We will be able to insure it in MA from here though (miracle of miracles) and will start that process tomorrow. We're hoping to have the plates within the month. I can't wait to drive it! So, bit by bit things are coming together. Oh happy day...we are once again with car. Did I mention that I really do love driving.

Down on the avenue...

If you happened to spot me walking down Oak Bay Avenue today, you may have thought to yourself "who is that delirious looking woman wandering down the street with a coffee cup in her hand."

I did one of my favorite things today...I went for a walk on the avenue to "run" some errands. Not run though, walk, and walk slowly which most know I don't do often (despite all M's efforts to shape my inappropriately fast walking behavior). I picked up some packing things at the hardware store, stopped at the bakery, then the italian deli (for fresh local veggies and other nice treats) and the grocery store (for boring things like milk and bread). On my travels today I had what was possibly the single best cup of coffee of my life thus far. That is saying something - I have had many outstanding cups of coffee. Before I say much more I must confess that I am an unadulterated coffee snob. Here are two scenarios that emphasize my point:

1) DH and I walk into a little bakery, hoping to get a nice cup of coffee and maybe a pastry. I look around, see yummy pastery, but no clue as to what type of coffee is served. There are large generic pots brewing away (often, though not always a bad sign) and generic paper cups. Suspicious, I casually ask the counter person (unfortunately, I can not use the term "Barista" here) "So...umm...what type of coffee do you brew here?" Counter person stares at me blanly (warning sign # 2), and eventually says, "Umm..I think, ah you mean what BRAND do we have?" Sighing, I reply "yes, what brand" knowing the question is now totally unnecessary. Counter person says "Umm..Canterbury I think." Tyla - "Hmm..(high pitched hmmm)..okay, thank you" and wispers to Daryl "let's get out of here." Daryl looks appalled and replies "you can't just LEAVE now" and I say "well I'm not paying 2 dollars for canterbury coffee." We leave.

2) DH and I have a bit of a wait between buses downtown. There's a (usually) decent coffee place nearby, and DH runs in to get us some coffees for the trip. He comes back, hands one to me. Both of us take sips, turn to look at each other, shake our heads and comment on the absolute disgrace of a cup of coffee we are drinking. I try very hard to keep drinking, as does DH. Finally DH can take it no more (he has been corrupted by this point) and marches to the nearest garbage can and tosses the entire venti coffee. Seconds later I do the same. This is not the first, nor will it be the last time I have tossed a coffee (I once winged a nasty cup of gas station coffee out the driver side window of my car I was so disgusted. Luckily it didn't cause an accident).

Okay. Now that you understand what a good (and bad) cup of coffee mean to me, you will appreciate the experience I had this afternoon. Well, maybe not in the same way that I do...but...

I finally walked by this new little bakery while it was open (I've passed it many times in the evening after it is closed). I decided I needed a pick me up and wanted to check it out, so went in for a coffee and a peak at the pasteries. Firstly - the pasteries and cakes were of the absolute highest quality. The cakes were complete works of art. I was amazed. After gawking with my mouth open, I ordered my coffee. Here's what made it so special:

First - it was Illy coffee (the finest italian coffee - to DIE for). Second the barista (no hesitation here) pulled the shots three times, before she decided they were good enough to use. Having worked in a cafe, and loving straight espresso, I often see people pulling the shots for my drinks and am thoroughly dissapointed. These shots (the good ones) had a beautiful dark coloring, with a thick, creamy caramel coulored creme on top. I love the creme. When I get americano's or straight espresso I sip it off before anything else :-). Today though, I had ordered a double macchiato. Now I must clarify for the Starbucks fans (of which I frequently am one) that a true macchiato is not full of milk and topped with whip cream and caramel sauce. A true machiato is a double shot (or more) of espresso topped with foam (foamed milk). No actual steamed milk is poured in,and it is not sweetened in any way. The machiato I had today had beautiful thick foam (the best kind) - I knew it would be perfect as she foamed it slowly, and tamped the steaming jug down several times. I was served only the best shots of espresso, from the best coffee, with the best foamed milk on top. I walked out into the sunlight, removed the top, and drank in the first sip. There is nothing that compares to the perfectly drawn shot of espresso filtered through thick creamy foam. It was bliss. So, I walked slowly the rest of the way, in order to fully enjoy this creation.

I picked up the groceries and am now off to unpack them and get dinner prepped before we go for our run. Huge to-do list for the evening, but first things first :-).

Purging, running and cooking

Today was productive, but for some reason I"m left feeling somewhat "blah" - like it wasn't productive. Not sure why...Anyhoo.

I worked in the am, then spent the afternoon 1) Purging our kitchen 2) Cleaning 3) Cooking a roast and 4) Going for a run with Daryl.

I managed to pull out 3 boxes of dishes and odds and ends that are non-essential and we do not love enough to store, as well as several small kitchen appliances that are partially broken, old, or almost never used. I also started sorting through a rubbermaid bin of old school/work stuff. I think most of it will be chucked and/or shredded. I'm keeping the larger papers I wrote and stuff, but that's about it. So, Hoping to get one rubbermaid down to one folder of stuff.

I cooked a roast!! This is a rare thing for me. We rarely eat red meat, mostly b/c I really don't like or no how to cook it without a recipe. But we had a certain type of roast at a friends house that we loved. So, standing in front of the meat counter I phoned her and asked "what type of roast do I get??" I then googled it, to try to get some ideas for cooking it, and melded several "recipes" together to come up with this:

1 Cross Rib roast - I rubbed it with a paste of fresh rosemary, crushed garlic, thyme, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper and olive oil. I then seared it in a frying pan (they say you're supposed to do this), then put it in a baking pan with potatoes, carrots, garlic, and 2 cups of water and covered with foil. Cooked for about 2 hours, and it was done! Pretty tasty. I think I overcooked it a bit - I didn't have a meat thermometer and was afraid of under cooking it.

It was ready early, and we went for a run when Daryl went home, then had dinner. The cheese man came today at Daryl's work...so we had some brie and smoked cheddar with our wine for dessert. I ate too much of it though!!

We've just completed week 1 of our "couch to 5 k" running program. It starts off very easy and gradually builds you up week by week until you're running 5k. You run 3 times per week, with the difficulty building on a weekly basis. So, next week we up the intensity a bit. It feels good to run again (well, really "Jog" not "run"). I always forget how good it feels. And it's really nice to run with Daryl. I love working out with him :-).

Anyhoo...laundry and more packing calls...

Holiday at home weekend...

This weekend has felt somewhat like a holiday, even though it's been jam-packed, AND I worked. Thursday night, we spent with friends having dinner and watching a mutually favorite, now-retired TV series, (ehhem...Buffy). We haven't spent much time with them, and I so wish we had before now. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. Good company, good food, good chocolate, good TV viewing. Good times :-). Friday night we had movie night togehter and Saturday I worked in the morning. We went for a run together afterwards, had the afternoon together, went to Church, where we prayed a beautiful Akathist to Christ - it is my favorite one, and so wonderful to pray. We then went over to another friends house for a games night afterwards. Again, people we don't spend enough time with! We had wine, games, snacks, and good conversation. Very fun. Our priest and deacon were both away this weekend, so we didn't have a liturgy this morning, but had a reader's service (a prayer service). We had a liesurely morning, breakfast (yummy cereal and fresh blueberries) and coffee on the deck, then went to Church. There was something very special about so few of us gathering together to pray. It was an intimate service, with almost everyone in attendance "doing" something - be it singing or reading or otherwise. It was a peaceful and strengthening prayerful time.

After Church, we had some lunch and coffee with everyone at the Church. Oh - as a side bar - someone brought potato salad (WAIT!) but made with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, green onions and olives with potatoes. It was really really good!! Ok, so AFTER Church, we went accross the highway to Elk Lake, and we rented a WATER BIKE. It was excellent!! It seats two, is impossible to peddal, and takes gargantuan effort to get anywhere. BUT- It was a great workout, and very amusing and we had a blast!! I decided, once we were in the middle of the lake that the water felt warm, and that I should hop off for a swim. Ya, the water was warm...but ummmm...water bikes are not designed for re-mounting mid-lake. I was literally hanging with my legs wrapped around the bars leading from the back to front wheels, with Daryl hauling on my one arm while trying to keep the bike from tipping, flailing my other arm trying to wing myself back up onto the bike. I somehow managed to make it back onto the bike, but it was a serious escapade. If daryl had come swimming too we would have had to tow the bike back in! We had an afternoon of purging/organizing and planning the move, and a good dinner. I have figured out how to make panini type sandwiches at home! Sourdough bread - one side spread with pesto, then tiny bit of shredded cheddar, then sliced chicken breast, tomato and artichoke hearts, then a bit of feta, and another tiny bit of cheddar. Put the second slice on top, brush one side of the sandwich with olive oil, and put it in a grill pan. I put a pot, with an unopened jar of pickled in the pot on top of the sandwiches to squash them, then brush the second side with olive oil, flip and replace the pot/pickle contraption. Cut in half and serve with mixed greens and a glass of wine. SUPER good!

So, all of this combined to make this weekend feel a bit like a holiday, even though we were at home, accomplished quite a bit, and still worked a bit. I think it was the lake visit, and spending time with friends. We often cut out socializing, due to time constraints, and being so tired etc that we just want to curl up and watch a movie together. Have to remember how reviving it can be to spend that time with friends instead.

I am so thankful that we are able to find peace and joy in the midst of the scary and busy moving maddness. God is good.

Big decisions, little victories.

It feels good to make decisions. We have been agonizing over every little decision, debating and weighing pros and cons and expenses. We are finally getting to the point that some type of decisions are being made. We've found the apartment we want. It's a really nice one bedroom 7-800 square foot "victorian" apartment in an area of town recomended by the people at NECC as one of the better areas in Worcester. It is the 2nd floor in a 3 family building. These are the pics we have of it. I'm excited. I think it will be a good little place for us. It's relatively new, clean, in a good neighborhood, and within our price range. We're just going through working out the details of basically renting an apartment from the other side of the continent. Luckily, we are dealing with a real estate agent, which makes me a little less nervous about it than if we were just dealing with someone who posted an add. This picture (<---) is the view from the porch. I like :-). ANYhoo...so, we've decided on an apartment, now we just have to wait for the real estate agent to confirm my work situation (call them) and do our reference checks etc. So we'll see, hopefully it will work out.

We've also decided on a car. We found a car that a couple brought here from California, but now want to sell, as the importing fees are so high. So, it's a US car, so WE don't have to import it going into the states. It's a nice little 1998 Nissan 200SX. Good commuting car, in mint condition and it came through with a stellar mechanical inspection. So, it will be a huge relief to have a car we can rely on. SO good stuff.

And can I just give a huge recomendation for Craigslist!! It is basically a huge classifed website where you can post adds and view adds for almost anything. They also have discussion forums around certain topics related to this stuff. I have found, for our move on this website:
1) A car.
2) An apartment.
3) Potential jobs for Daryl.
4) Advice about housing costs, heating costs, living expenses in Worcester.
5) FREE moving boxes from someone who is moving to Victoria this weekend!
6) That we can pretty much furnish an entire apartment when we get there for next to nothing through craigslist.

I think we will list our furniture we're selling on the Victoria Craigslist soon to sell it. You also don't have make any of your personal information available to those who are looking at your post. You can set it up so that they reply to a Craigslist address that gets forwarded to your email. Excellent!

Little victories include 1) Free moving boxes, 2) Sorting through about half the storage closet and heaving out a bag of trash, and another bag of give aways, and a box to store..and well, I think that's it for now :-).

There is still much to do, but making headway in little bits.

Sand between my toes.

I like the feeling of sand between my toes. I also love the feeling of sun beating down on me and fresh, clean salt water to swim in. So, it was a good camping trip. I think Miracle Beach is the absolute best place to camp. It has the wonderful tall, old trees surrounding the campsites, and the stunning open ocean views at the beach. It has those stumps that huckleberries grow out of. I remember sitting on stumps with a childhood friend on camping trips and eating huckleberries. As I was saying to Daryl this weekend...how exactly did I know they were huckleberries?? I couldn't tell you today what a huckleberry looked like, and wouldnt' trust myself not to eat poisonous berries! But then I guess I wasn't thinking about potential poisonings at that age.

We went for a wonderful walk around an estuary. It was a beautiful combination of forest and beach! We spent one whole day on the beach - myself laying on the beach in the sun tanning (LOVE it!), Daryl spending most of the time in shadier area reading and relaxing.

Two of my favorite pictures: The rock picture. I always end up taking pictures of rocks and sand. I think "that would be perfect to blow up and hang up to decorate." I HAVE done this once with a set of postcards. I color copied 3 beachy post cards and enlarged them (60 cents each!) and framed them. It worked well. I'm collecting pictures for a beach theme wall. I won't of course put this together till we're settled in in Boston, but at least I'll have the pictures. I have some great ones from our camping trip last year too. So, Daryl took this fabulous beach picture below the rocks. It is truely stunning there. Here too. It really is a little bit of paradise here.

There are many more pictures to share, but this is just a sampling. We had a good weekend, and managed to pack a lot in to it. We visited Cherry Point winery on our way down, and bought our wine for the weekend, then had some friends meet us at the campsite for Friday night. We were, ehhem, a *little* bit later than planned (umm...around 9pm) and our wonderful friends had talked their way into our campsite and had a fire going for us when we arrived!! We all had drinks and roasted hot dogs and smores over the fire (and some brie, artichoke dip, and chips and salsa) and had a great time. It's too bad they lock the gates to the campground at 11pm. It was sad to see them go - we don't see them often at all.

We went to Campbell River for some of the Canada day festivities. There was wood carving...and a "parade." There was no "Miss ___ " float, as in osoyoos (see Michelle's post), but there were some shriners driving around like crazy men in formation in these little mini race cars!! It was SO funny! There were all fairly old, but they were MOTORING in these little mini cars. It reminded me of the clowns in the tiny car at the circus. They were going so fast!! Anyhoo, we had the famous ice cream on the pier and headed back to the campsite.

I'm kind of excited - we kind of have a camping "tradition" now. On the last night, we get fresh salmon and cook it with sliced lemon, dill, and salt and pepper in the fire. Then I make up potatoes mixed with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper etc and we roast them in the fire. Both are in foil packages, and we have some type of vegetable (this time it was green beans) with it as well. We did this again this year, and it was SO good! We had a nice Ortega wine from Cherry Point to go with it - it was a treat!

We had a good last day too, amazingly. We were packed up and out of the campground by 11am, and had time to stop at several markets and pick up produce, and make another stop at the winery. We also went for lunch at what we consider to be "our" restaurant. We went to it several times on our honeymoon. It's called the Beach House and is right on the beach route in Qualicam. The patio is literally 50 feet from the waves. Unbelievable food too, and amazyingly reasonably priced. I sat on the patio, sun beaming down on me, wine in hand, waves lapping at the shore only feet away, with my husband next to me. It was a good time. I had a candied salmon pizza with pesto and cream cheese. Super good! We love this restaurant.

So, all in all it was a good weekend. It gave us a chance to step back a bit, have some fun, and have some more in depth talks about the "Big picture" of the move and such. This part really helped me key downa bit about it all. There are still just as many unknowns, and it's still blinking scary, but i have a some more perspective on it now.

Well...off I go - this is what happens when I wait too long between blogs! There is more to post just from the last few days! It will have to wait till another time though.

Cry if you want to...

Another Holly Cole song - it's actually one of my favorite songs of hers. Lyrics go "Cry if you want to, I won't tell you not to, I won't try to cheer you up. I'll just be here if you want me. It's no use in keeping a stiff upper lip, you can weep you can sleep you can loosen your grip. You can frown you can drown and go down with the ship...you can cry if you want to." That's just the first bit of it. But I like it. I often have sudden urges to sing it to friends. But I resist ;-).

I must cave in and discuss the moving angst here. I just want to cry. Things keep piling up, and every time we think we've got things figured out, something else appears. Today the gem was that I got my tax return (for 2004 - I was a delinquent - because I thought I wouldn't owe anything). Yep, I owe a shwack of money - not in TAXES, but in CPP etc. Like a crap load of money (in our student type world it is anyways). I'm imagining, since he is also self-employed right now that Daryl will owe something similar. And we still have to do our 2005 taxes. So basically, half of our moving budget just disappeared. This is just the latest crisis. Maybe this is God's desensitization program? Exposure to increasingly anxiety-inducing crises, until I get to the point where I just trust Him, regardless of the magnitute of the crisis? Could someone identify the mastery criterion for me?

Well. I'm going to go babysit, then I'm going to tackle financial stuff with Daryl, then i'm going to pack for our camping trip (the meager four days of which we can apparently no longer afford), then I'm going to go camping and try to ignore all of this for a few days. Then I will come home and have a panic attack. Right. Off I go.

Flying Phyllo!

Well yesterday was a fairly productive day. I worked for the first half of the day, then tackled some chores in the afternoon, since it had cooled down a bit. I purged the linen closet, hauling out two more garbage bags for big brothers, called Telus to find out HOW I get our of my cell phone contract, and emailed around to find someone willing to take over organizing the baking of prosphora at church. I also did about another hour of apartment hunting online, with some positive results, and started some financial paperwork that needs doing.

We determined how much storage space we have at my parents place...left a msg for Daryl's parents to determine the same, and nailed down dates to move all the stuff we're not taking to Boston to the mainland to store. Daryl worked out the BCAA inspection for the car we're thinking of getting, got the insurance for our rental car for our camping trip, and went to the US ferry terminal downtown. OK - so, it turns out that ALL THIS TIME, when we had all these questions about moving/visa/etc details and have gone so far as to send Daryl's parents to the border on the mainland to ask questions (you cannot access US state department via phone unless you have a phone that is not cordless and will not die after a mere 3.5 hours on hold), there has been a US port of entry RIGHT HERE. They were nice and helpful, and gave Daryl the times the customs agents were in and said they'd be able to answer all our questions. We'll still be speaking to a lawyer no doubt, but at least we have a contact point.

I also made the most FABULOUS dinner!! I started to make it the night before, but it involved Phyllo pastry, and I (brilliant) hadn't thawed it out. So the filling for the phyllo and the marinating vegetables for the grilled vegetable salad went into the fridge for last night. I made a spinach and potato and herb filing for the phyllo - kind of spanakopita like. It was SO good!! Phyllo is so fussy - I kept ripping it! It turned out ok in the end though. The grilled vegetables turned out to be even better having marinated for 24hours instead of 1-2 hours. I did portabella mushrooms, red peppers, eggplant, and zuchinni marinated in basil chilie garlic vinegar (my mom makes it - it's amazing!), olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic, basil and oregano. I grilled them in my pampered chef grill pan (LOVE IT) at a really high heat, then sliced them up and mixed into a salad. Super good! We ate on the deck, but it was really windy, and every time we cut into the spakopita thingys phyllo pastery went flying all over the patio, into our faces, down my shirt, EVERYWHERE!! It was SO funny. And a friend stopped by and exchanged 2 bottles of wine for 3 cases of wine bottles (she was bottling tomorrow and short on bottles, and I just happened to have 3 cases from ages ago when I was planning to try to make wine)!! So, out went three more boxes of clutter!! And we had wine for dinner. Excellent.

To bed early last night to catch up on the sleep missed due to heat wave. On the agenda today: work for most of the day, then go to Canadian tire to scope out tents, haul stuff out of our closet and determine what I can sort through and what Daryl has to sort through, and sort through a bookshelf in our room and decide what to store/get rid of/take with us. And of course, andother check in with apartment listings.

Off I go!